Sunday, July 13, 2014

We have all seen it. That famous and iconic Iron Man landing pose where our invincible iron-clad hero comes crashing down from above with left knee bent forward and right arm fist clenched to steady himself. Bam! What a sight. It has been repeated so many times and in so many medium everyone who's a fan would know what I'm talking about. If not, check out the pictures below to see what I mean.

Truth be told, these are all CGI i.e. computer generated images which make it look possible but in reality, this particular pose is almost impossible to execute properly at all. With an actual 1/6 scale fully articulated 12-inch figure, the limitations of the articulations of the body means that this landing pose is not possible to perform. Many have tried and failed. The poses I've seen are mostly awkward looking and the figure doesn't look as dynamic as in these drawn pictures. I tried using regular 12-inch figures (on which the 1/6 scale Iron Man figures are based on) to perform the same pose and was only satisfied with one particular brand which could do it - see my toy blog post HERE of the various 1/6th scale 12-inch Action Figure Bodies I used: Hot Toys, X-Series etc to determine which is best.

Hot Toys seemed to have achieved it in their preview pictures of the MMS123 Movie Masterpiece Series Iron Man 2 1/6th scale Mark IV Limited Edition Collectible Figurine (posted HERE) but since its release, I have been unable to get it into the desired position (see my attempt HERE). So many others have failed in this endeavor as well. So begs the question: Can Hot Toys "Iron Man 3" 1/6th scale Die-cast Iron Patriot execute the famous and iconic landing pose?

Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.

I thought I'll just show some more pictures of the same pose executed by different Iron Man to get my point across as to how iconic this pose has become.

And now, a look at how Hot Toys MMS195-D01 Movie Masterpiece Series Die-cast 1/6th scale Iron Patriot 12-inch Collectible Action Figure fare in executing the iconic landing pose. Nope, not even close. I tried putting Iron Patriot into the pose but he looks absolutely terrible doing it and he doesn't look nice at all for pictures so this is the best that he gets up to. Even with the waist extended by pulling up the upper body and pushing up the flaps at the hips for better positioning of the legs plus extending the legs further by pressing a button at the back buttocks area (all are new features with this die-cast Iron Patriot figure), it is not good enough to create the famous landing pose. The feet can also be extended by pulling it down slightly for positioning if needed.

Pushing up the flaps at the hips allows for better positioning of the legs. The flaps work on a hinge system and it's a clever idea to have better leg movement.

The waist extension allows the back to curve and bend more than the standard 12-inch figures. The legs can also extend further by lowering the crotch area via the push of a button located at the back buttocks area.

Close-up pictures and shots showing waist extended by pulling up the upper body; flaps pushed up at the hips for better positioning of the legs plus extending the legs further by pressing a button at the back buttocks area and lowering the crotch area.

And here's the only one iron man figure I've seen that managed to nail that dynamic landing pose. That's only possible because it is a statue and not actually a 12-inch proportionately correct articulated figure. Why did I say that? Check out the pictures below for the answer. That statue in question is the Sideshow Collectibles Iron Man comiquette. The statue is too smooth and does not have the etchings and articulations that a 12-inch armor figure has, hence a "comiquette" - a term coined by Sideshow Collectibles to mean a comic-related statue. Things that a statue do not have: there is no articulation; there is no overlapping armor; there are no light-up features here; there are no interchangeable parts for more display options and for non-armor figures, there are no fabric outfits / uniforms / costumes with removable accessories, weapons and gear!

The Sideshow Collectibles Iron Man comiquette looks nice from the front but from the side it appears like the right arm that contacts the ground have detached itself from the rest of the body. It looks like the arm has been hacked off and then reattached because it doesn't have enough length to complete the pose.

From the back of the statue, that is where proper anatomy is called into question. The back looks more like a snake's slithery body than that of a human being. It's too long and curved and as I mentioned earlier, the arm that contacts the ground appears to have popped itself out from the rest of the body.

So it appears that a 12-inch properly proportioned figure cannot make the pose. This statue / Iron Man comiquette can because the sculptor took a few liberties and did not take into consideration what a body can or cannot do. All that armor has to go somewhere and it seems like there's no way the spectacular pose is possible except in the computer imagined world.

NEXT: Comparison pictures of this Hot Toys MMS195-D01 Movie Masterpiece Series Die-cast 1/6th scale Iron Patriot 12-inch Collectible Action Figure with the Hot Toys War Machine Mark 1 (version 1.0 - the original from "Iron Man 2") plus pictures taken with the other 1/6 scale James Rhodes (Terrence Howard as Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes as seen in the first Iron Man film)

2 comments:

Getting that pose is just a limitation of the 1/6th scale I think. The closest figure I have that can make that pose is a Bandai Perfect Grade endoskeleton but it's a robot and the armor has to be stripped.

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